


Hope you'll be here when I need you the most

by Jade_Pearl



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Gen, Hurt Nathaniel Kurtzberg, M/M, Miraculous Holder Marc Anciel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-18 12:34:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28867092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jade_Pearl/pseuds/Jade_Pearl
Summary: Nathaniel's Father is a supreme asshole and Nath pays the price for it.He just wanted to live his life. He didn't deserve this.
Relationships: Alix Kubdel & Nathaniel Kurtzberg, Marc Anciel/Nathaniel Kurtzberg
Comments: 7
Kudos: 21
Collections: MarcNath Fics!





	Hope you'll be here when I need you the most

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Bisexual_Fangirl_Forever](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bisexual_Fangirl_Forever/gifts).



> Happy, happy, happy super belated birthday Vee!!💖🍰
> 
> This is for @Bisexual_Fangirl_Forever whose birthday was days ago, but I didn't start writing this until the day of. It was created due to her choosing some prompts I'd organized(she didn't know which, it was randomized)  
> Here you go hon.
> 
> There's violence but I don't think it's graphic. Fair warning there.
> 
> To the rest of you, I hope you enjoy it as well.
> 
> Edit: So I reread it and I noticed there's a part where Nath kid of idealizes suicide. It's in the paragraphs where he says he have up on escaping, I think. When you reach the part about it being bright, just be careful with the first few paragraphs.

"You-you can't do this! You can't possibly expect-"

"Mr. Thomson, surely you can't presume to tell me what to do with _my_ company's products." Roy Corbin said, interrupting his distraught employee.

"Those are _my inventions_ ! _My_ designs! _My_ calculations! _My life's work!!_ I have slaved and toiled for this company-"

"A service greatly appreciated. But _regrettably_ no longer _needed._ " Roy said. He continued, "Now, I'll give you a week to have your lab and office cleared. I suggest you take the rest of the day off." In short order he called security to escort the vehemently protesting Mr. Thomson off company grounds. "Oh, one more thing." He said, cutting through the irate swears and threats, "Do recall that you signed away _all_ creative license and material when you started here. Those are _company_ products, Mr. Thomson and I'll thank you not insinuate otherwise. Less you wish for our next meeting to be in a courtroom." The look of utter despair and betrayal on Mr. Thomson's face as he was frog marched off the premises, was most amusing to him. The poor man had most likely only just realized that he'd well and truly lost. 

+=+=+

The yawn that Nathaniel let out as they entered the school courtyard, could have very nearly split his face in two, and Alix, being the great friend that she was, was quick to tell him just that. 

"What's the matter?" She teased, "Marc keeping you up at night?" With a waggle of her brows and a cackle she dodged the punch Nath threw at her shoulder. They continued to push and swipe playfully at each other all the way to the art class.

They both had projects that they were working on for lycèe applications so they arrived early to work on them. This gave Alix ample time to pry the truth out of Nathaniel.

"Come on, spill it." She said as soon as they'd sat down.

"Might I have a moment to get set up, your highness?" Nathaniel drawled back.

"You may not, peasant. Now, speak." She declared as she whacked him with her art binder. 

"Ah- ow! Hey! Quit it, alright, alright already!" When Alix stopped hitting him, he mumbled a few choice words under his breath while rubbing his arm. For someone so small Alix had a lot of strength packed away. "Look, I just-just haven't been sleeping very well lately alright." Alix raised an eyebrow and leveled Nath with her best 'try again' look, when that didn't work she waved the binder threateningly.

"Alright, geez." Nath said. He looked around surreptitiously, and that was all Alix needed to know. 

"Fucking hell." She muttered, "The _fuck_ does **_he_ ** want _now_?" 

At this point Nathaniel wasn't even surprised that she'd figured it out. They'd known each other since they were babies, how could she not? She was there for _all_ the drama with his Father, she knew, she understood. That's why all he did was shrug and say, "Hell if I know. It'll be a frigid millennium in hell, before he decides to share his twisted thoughts with us plebs." Alix huffed in agreement and dropped the issue for now. Whenever that bastard, sperm donor was involved it was _always_ best to let Nath come around on his own. _If_ he wanted to. 

+=+=+

It happened after school. They were hanging out in her room like they used to, on Nath's request, when he told her what had been going on. Apparently his father has decided that it was time for him to start learning the ropes of being a proper heir, or something. He wanted to move Nath to a private, boarding academy clear on the other side of Paris. When Nath tried to refuse his father acted like he'd done him a favor by not choosing one in another part of France altogether. 

"Then he said-he said that it'd be a shame if Ima failed her next health inspection. Totally out of the blue, but I-I _know_ what he meant." Nath's voice shook with rage as he said, "That-that bastard was threatening to sabotage Ima and the restaurant if I didn't do what he wanted." He huffed sardonically. "But that's my Father for you. Always gotta have his way and screw everyone else." He'd begun to tire out by now, but still continued, " _That's_ why I haven't been sleeping well. I've been on high alert for akumas ever since. I've got until the summer to give him my answer, and if it's anything but a 'yes' Ima can kiss her livelihood goodbye. He won't _just_ ruin the restaurant, he'll find some way to ruin her life as well. All without it getting back to him, too. And does his highness deign to grace us with his presence? Nope!" He scoffed. "He's decided to turn my whole life upside down from the comfort of his New York Penthouse Condo." Down with his rant, Nathaniel slumped over on Alix's bed, too tired and worn out to remain upright. 

For her part Alix didn't know what to say, didn't know if there was anything she _could_ say. Roy Corbin was -for all the innovations his company produced- an old fashioned bigot! He staunchly believed that blood heirs were the only _true_ heirs one could have and that women had a set place in the social hierarchy -his wife and daughters were proof of that- which is just one of many reasons for Nath's parents' 'separation'. Their relationship was never serious, not really. Not to him at least. Naomi was too wild, uncultured and _common_ for a Corbin. So he left her and married his trophy sponge, but they only had daughters even after ages of trying. Not wanting to _hand_ his family business off to some up and coming, _git_ he decided it was high time he met the boy Naomi had told him about. He'd planned to ignore him, surely after spending so much time with _that woman_ the boy would be near ruined, but if he wanted the company to stay in the Corbin name...well, needs must.

Which was how Nathaniel found himself with an unwanted father figure, six years after he'd given up on him. Six years after he'd learnt exactly what kind of man his sperm donor was. Nath and his Ima had turned Roy away at their door; they wanted nothing to do with the man and he had nothing that they wanted, not anymore. That day marked the beginning of a lesson that Nathaniel would become frighteningly familiar with; when Roy Corbin wanted something, he was determined to do _everything_ and _anything_ that he deemed necessary to get it. He threatened to sue her for keeping his child from him, and said he'd get the court to rule in his favor and then Nath would never see or speak to his Ima ever again. They didn't believe him then. They learnt. The -very much real- threat of him taking Nath away forever loomed over them, keeping them mostly compliant.

So Nath stayed with his Ima on the off chance that Roy had another son. After his 21st birthday, if no other heir was born, he'd join his Father and start learning the ropes of the company. He'd get to pursue his own dreams in the meantime, and he'd even get to keep any relations he'd developed over that time too. How generous.

The bottom line was that, even though he'd broken his word, there was nothing they could really do to go against him. He'd just get his ridiculously efficient lawyers to get him off and come back more dangerous than he was before. 

"I don't know how to tell the others. What do I even say? 'Hey, my Father's a humongous dick, and is forcing me to be his heir'?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"Al...be serious." He whined.

"I am." She said. "It sucks big time, but would you rather have them wondering what the hell's going on when you just up and disappear on them, with no explanation?" He groaned from the mound of pillows he'd taken refuge in.

"You know I'm right." Alix snarked with a smirk.

"Some humility goes a bloody long way." He grumbled, but aquiscited to her logic. It would be bad if he disappeared on everyone. Marc, at the very least, would be devastated; with that thought he resolved to tell the rest of their friends what was going on.

+=+=+

Nathaniel left Alix's the next morning feeling better than he had in ages. He didn't feel great, not by a long shot, but he had a renewed resolve and a plan. It wouldn't fix everything per se, but it could make his life more bearable at least. It was Saturday, so he'd asked Alix to gather everyone and meet up later that afternoon. He was going to tell them _everything._ It would be strange, not having to hide who he was, but the thought of it alone made him feel more free than he'd ever felt since his Father barged into his life. 

Before that, he needed to see his Ima. This story wasn't his alone and he wanted to make sure that she would be okay with his friends knowing. More to it though, he'd miss her and wanted to spend as much time as he possibly could. 

He'd decided to walk home; it wasn't really far and he figured that it would help get his thoughts and nerves in order. He knew this route so well after many years that he could probably walk it with his eyes closed. Half a block away from home and lost in his thoughts, he was shocked to feel a sharp sting in his neck. With a shout he tried to raise his hand to slap away what had bitten him, only to find that he couldn't move his arm. He couldn't feel it. Terrified, he tried to shout for help, but found that he couldn't tell if his mouth was open or not. His legs gave out soon after a feeling of complete numbness had set in. He barely had time to curse his luck before everything went black.

+=+=+

 _'Ugh! Where is he? It's been an hour already.'_ Alix thought as she frantically paced back and forth. The rest of the art gang watched on, their nerves just as frayed with worry. They'd all gotten calls and messages from Alix, that simply said, 'Taco Tuesday at mine. Nath's sponsoring.', and had immediately dropped and cancelled all plans for the day. When they arrived she told them that it was about Nath and that it was his to tell, so she couldn't say anymore about it. Now, however, they'd been waiting for over an hour and their worry had escalated to 'mild panic'. They _all_ respected the code system and wouldn't dare think about misusing it, which meant that something was _very, very wrong_. Mild panic grew to full panic, when Alix's phone pinged with a message and her face turned ivory white in seconds. She showed them her screen where they saw a text from Mme. Kurtzberg. 

**Tante Naomi**

Ask Nath what he wants for dinner, please. I can't reach him. 

Aunty. Nath's not here. He went home this morning. 

...He messaged me and said he'd stay with you until later, because he wanted to tell his friends about what was happening. 

He isn't answering his phone. 

Naomi had sent a screenshot of the message 'Nathaniel' had sent her that morning. Nothing about it seemed amiss, and that was the terrifying part. Nath _couldn't_ have sent it. They all tried to call and message Nath but none of them got through, not even Marc, whose number Alix _knew_ Nath had marked as a priority. After a few minutes of trying they all gave up and decided to go searching for him instead. Mme. Kurtzberg had shown up a little while ago and eagerly joined them. 

Their first stop was the police station. Naomi had to give the officer a detailed account of the last few weeks, and the report was almost written off as a runaway, but thankfully she'd been able to convince them otherwise. With the formalities out of the way, the group split into three and combed through as much of Paris as they could. They started at Alix's home and moved out from there. By the time they'd called it quits it was long past dark, and they were all weary and distressed. They'd found nothing. Not a clue, a scrap, a trace, a hint; nothing. It was as if Nathaniel had vanished into thin air. 

Over the next couple of weeks they'd gotten the rest of their friends involved in the search; it was an all-out manhunt by now, honestly. They'd tried tracing the message to get a kick on Nath's location, at least at the time he disappeared, but nothing came up. According to Max and Markov, the signal bounced around so much that it eventually led to _nowhere_ . At one point Markov said it came from space. So after a month of searching they had nothing. Some of the others had given up by now, certain that he'd come back if he wanted too. None of them dared voice their true thoughts though, at least not in front of Mme. Kurtzberg. They didn't think he was _ever_ coming back.

+=+=+

Finally after five tireless weeks of searching for her baby boy, Naomi received a clue of his location; she almost wished she hadn't. The images Roy sent her were so...so vile and disturbing that she'd immediately lost her lunch. Alim and Alix had followed her when she dashed to the toilet, worried about what could have caused such a reaction. When Naomi managed to choke out what she'd seen to Alim, he tried to grab her phone to prevent Alix from seeing it but he'd been just a second too late. There on the screen was a message from Roy Corbin. 

"What the fuck did you do? You had one job! Fuck! Do you understand the position I'm in now because of this?" 

It went on and on, getting more and more derogatory and bigoted as he went on. Eventually she reached the end and saw the photos. She froze in shock. There before her was her best friend, but somehow not. He- she didn't even know where to look. He'd been beaten, clearly, and badly at that. But there were so many marks, and so, so much blood. His eyes were the worst though. The pictures weren't the best in quality, but she could tell that that was Nathaniel, and what little she _could_ see of him was _broken_ , through and through. She didn't even make it to the toilet.

Later, after they'd alerted the police about the new development, they gathered in the Kubdel's kitchen with the rest of the art gang, their parents, Luka and Kagami. Adrien was on video call since he'd been unable to leave his house. Naomi had refused to show them the pictures. No one else needed to be further traumatized than they already were. She was so pissed it was a miracle she hadn't been reakumatized, she tried to calm down because that was the last thing she needed. Once was bad enough, but Roy had long shot past pissing her off and this was just- _'Deep breaths, Naomi. Breathe.'_ When she was calm she gave them the abbreviated version of what Roy had sent her. 

From what she'd picked out of his delusional, bigoted ranting, he'd apparently fired his company's lead scientist and engineer, a Mr. Elliot Thomson, and had refused to so much as credit him for his work. Stating that it was _company_ work. Mr. Thomson, not liking this, had -and here it gets a little confusing- hired or teamed up with, a group people who really fucking hated Roy, to teach him a lesson. And they decided that the best way to do that, was to kidnap the _one_ thing in the _entire world_ that he actually gave a fuck about. _The future of his company._ He'd bragged all over the office about having an heir, about the Corbin line and legacy being safe, so why not...just, take it all away. So they'd kidnapped Nathaniel and demanded that Roy pay a ransom for him. For everyday that he refused to respond, they would take it out on 'his precious heir'. The issue was that Roy hadn't gotten _any_ of these messages. Oh, he'd gotten the first one, where M. Thomson had told him if he gave credit where it was due, he'd avoid a great deal of pain and hardship in the future. Naturally, he hadn't listened. More to it, he'd had his secretary block and redirect all messages from Mr. Thomson and anyone claiming association. And now he was suffering. Not because his son had been kidnapped and _very clearly abused and assaulted_ , oh no. His time was up. The scientists and co. had gotten extremely irritated at Roy's lack of response and had sent a video of Nathaniel, beaten and bruised, to a news network where it quickly went viral. 

Roy was blaming _her_ for not keeping a better eye on Nathaniel and thus allowing him to get kidnapped. He'd been dodging reporters left and right. She didn't care about his issues though. She told her thoroughly captivated audience that the police had explained to her that since Nathaniel is French, and his missing person's report was filed here and the video was almost assuredly taken somewhere in the States, this was now an international issue. That, plus the fact that a high profile person was involved had pushed the case up on the priority list and they'd make double sure to find her son. Did it piss her off that _this_ is what it took for them to get truly serious? Yes. But if a fire under their asses was what they needed then so be it. 

+=+=+

It was bright. That was the first thing that he'd noticed. After spending so much time in the dark, any light burned his eyes and this was a lot of light. He slammed his eyes shut and whimpered. The second thing was that he was clean. There was no blood and other assorted substances caked on him. He was relieved, practically overjoyed, when he leaned back and felt the walls of his crate against his back. If he was in his crate they weren't going to hurt him yet. Given that he could see light, someone must have gotten close again. He couldn't remember how long he'd been with them, but he knew that this must've been their tenth move already. And so soon after the last one. He'd long learnt his lesson about trying to escape, and didn't bother with much anymore. His only hope was that the Doctor would finally let him die soon. 

In the passenger seat of the van transporting Nathaniel to the drop off point, Elliot Thomson was not having a good day. For all that he bitched and moaned about returning to France being a terrible idea, he knew that it was their last and only choice. The plan hadn't gone the way they'd thought it would. Roy had not only proven that he didn't care about his _son_ , but that he'd do _anything_ to maintain his image. Even buy out every media outlet within reach. It had taken weeks to find a network that _hadn't_ been influenced by that bastard, so they could progress to the second stage of the plan. In the time in between they'd, admittedly taken out _all_ of their frustrations on the Corbin boy. Elliot himself was guilty of...quite a bit. By the time they were able to properly continue the plan, there hadn't been a thing that they _hadn't_ done to the boy. Five weeks is a long time after all.

Now here they were, six weeks in and Elliot might have been having a few doubts. Not about the plan, that was flawless, the execution however. The plan should have been simple. 'Give Roy Corbin a taste of his own medicine.' He wanted to show the man what it felt like to have his creation, his child, his _baby_ , **_ripped_ ** away from him. He couldn't get to the girls; they were too heavily guarded at all times and he'd never be able to pay someone off to do it for him in time. Thankfully he didn't need to. Roy had been more than happy to brag about _his son_ coming to learn the ropes that summer, and that he'd _finally get to turn him into a real man_. Sickening! But useful, because now Elliot knew that there was an unguarded Corbin child out there. It was almost too easy to kidnap young Nathaniel. The boy truly was completely unguarded. 

He growled in annoyance as he thought more about it. The plan should've been flawless! But not only did Roy buy out every news outlet in almost every state, he'd also hired detectives to hunt them down. Couldn't let it get out that Corbin Industries shafts it's employees, God no! That'd ruin business. So with phase two stalled and needing to change headquarters more often than they'd accounted for, it wasn't strange that they'd needed some stress relief. It was simply unfortunate for young Mr. Corbin. In the short time with them the boy had been whipped, beaten, flayed, mutilated, broken and more. He'd been particularly proud of the mutilation. Roy had wanted a son so badly, it felt _so good_ to take that from him, any way he could. 

None of that had made up for the fact that the plan had gone from on the rocks, to up shit fucking creek without a paddle _or_ a boat. The boy's case had become an international case, and the power force that backed Roy's last security team when they'd raided their headquarters, had decimated their numbers. Now it was just a few of them, and they were on their way to their last resort. An underground bunker in Paris. He had his reservations about this move. While they truly had no other choice, his colleagues in Paris had warned about a 'mothman' that fed on people's emotions and turned them into monsters. _Clearly_ , there was something _wrong_ in Paris. He didn't know _what_ was in their water-or perhaps it was the very air itself-, but he greatly worried about catching it. He startled when Daniel, the sanest of his allies in this endeavor, touched his shoulder to alert him of their arrival. Elliot disembarked and grabbed his luggage and cases before disappearing into his chosen area, with strict instructions that he was not, under any circumstances, to be disturbed. Perhaps a rest would alleviate his dreadful headache.

+=+=+

Elliot emerged later to a, by now, familiar sight. Whips, knives and assorted paraphernalia were scattered on the workfloor and the boy was dangling from the ceiling. He was bleeding from many points on his body but though awake, he didn't make a single sound. A light beating then. The rest had done him a great deal of good. He was fully recharged and ready to continue to the phase of the plan. 

Just as he'd called the men and women to gather at the strategy desk, the wall to his left exploded. Bits of concrete and debris blew inward and struck him across his face and body. His shock was short lived as people in tactical suits ran into the room. In the ensuing chaos he managed to find a hidden spot to observe everything. He watched as his allies were either arrested or killed, watched as all of his plans for revenge were flushed away, and raged. It wasn't fair! This couldn't be happening, not when they were so close God damnit! Not long after thinking this, he felt the strangest sensation overcome him. Looking down, he saw that the chess piece in his hand had turned purple-black. He noticed a purple glow, just out of his periphery as well and just when he thought it couldn't get any weirder, he heard a voice in his head. He'd either caught whatever the Parisians had, or Dr. Aean really wasn't as crazy as he'd feared. 

"Machinator, I am Hawkmoth."

"And I am Mayura." Ok, two voices.

" You've been disregarded and overlooked, despite your brilliance. And your plans and ideas were similarly treated before they were stolen from you. Now you've had your last chance ripped away from you, but we can give you the ability to get your revenge."

" All you need to do is get me Ladybug and Chat Noir's miraculouses!" 

"I'll make sure they never disregard me again!" Elliot felt a surge of power, unlike anything he'd ever felt before. As a black bubble-like thing emerged from his hand and spread to his entire body, his rage consumed him, it overflowed within him until it was all he could feel. As soon as the bubbles reached his head, he blacked out. 

+=+=+

The Akuma alert went off seconds before an explosion rocked the city. Ladybug and Chat Noir arrived on scene a few minutes after, and found several bodies strewn about in the wreckage. They kept their guards up as they went closer to investigate. 

"Uh...Milady? I think you should see this." Chat pointed to one of the bodies, it appeared to be a woman. Her face was frozen in an expression of shock and pain, her mouth hung open, and her eyes were wide open and blank, as if all the life had been sucked out of her. Using his baton, Chat Noir flipped one of the other bodies over and found that there was a deep, clean hole at the base of the skull. It took everything they had, to not throw up when they figured out what that was for. 

"Stay on your guard, kitty. Whatever did this must still be here." No sooner had she said this, than they heard movement on their far left. It sounded almost like someone was running away. Chat Noir moved to pursue it but at the last second noticed movement in his periphery. 

"Milady look out!" He tackled her out of the way seconds before she could be impaled by -what appeared to be- a long, mechanical tentacle. "Are you alright, Milady?" 

Before she could verbally respond they heard a sinister laugh all around them. 

"Whoever you are, quit playing games." Chat Noir said.

"Aw, puss. Don't you know? The games are half the fun!" The mysterious voice replied. From the shadows more and more mechanical tentacles emerged, each with a long, needle-nose prong that Ladybug knew spelt nothing but trouble for them. Due to the sheer amount of them, the heroes were quickly forced on the defensive. They spun their weapons to create shields and leaped and dodged away from the craftier tentacles. Ladybug had been trying to get a few to tie themselves into knots but either the person controlling them or the tentacles themselves, were to aware to fall for it. The heroes managed to escape and beat a hasty retreat to a nearby rooftop, where they had a good vantage point of the area. 

"Chat Noir, we need to draw whatever that is out into the open! It's clearly comfortable fighting from that position. We'll never get a hit in fighting it like this."

"Alright. Whaddya suggest? I'm all ears, Milady." Chat said as he nodded in agreement. 

"We need- look out!" They dodged out of the way of a piece of rubble that had been careening at them. Looking down they saw a large man with gold hair, and neon blue skin. His outfit consisted of a metallic blue bodysuit, a gold lab coat, goggles and platform boots. He had a chess piece necklace and strange gauntlets strapped to his hands.

"It's really, very rude to leave in the middle of a fight, it's doubly rude to talk amongst yourselves when with company." The man sneered. Behind him the tentacle creature finally emerged from its hiding space, Chat rather wished it hadn't. It was gold and blue, naturally, and looked like a mechanical cross between a spider and an infinitely tentacled jellyfish. It had eight, needle sharp legs that held its body(?) up. The body itself was barely translucent, and had tentacles sprouting from within. Most terrifying of all had to be the many silhouettes of bodies that they could see inside it. Each one appeared to be attached to a tentacle. 

"Let them go, Glowstick!" Chat shouted.

Machinator growled in annoyance, "My name is Machinator! You insolent puss. I think I'll deal with you first!" The creature, a sentimonster, shot several tentacles at Chat Noir in an attempt to grab him. Chat avoided and parried as many as he could but eventually he and Ladybug had to retreat. 

"There's no way we can get close to him or the sentimonster, and we still don't know what either of their powers are." Ladybug mused.

Peeking over the edge of their hideous hole, Chat gulped and nudged Ladybug. "I think we're about to find out."

Joining Chat, Ladybug peeked out as well and saw the sentimonster go completely transparent. There were upwards of twenty people trapped inside the creature. All were hooked up by tentacles that, if Ladybug's guess was right, attached to the victims spines. She'd just been wondering about the purpose of it when one of the tentacles glowed a bright, neon blue and began flashing, as if it were pulsing. There was a man attached to it and when it glowed his face twisted into a pained terrified grimace, similar to the lady they'd found. They watched, shocked and disgusted, as the man convulsed and eventually stilled. 

"That's it!"

"Chat Noir, wait!" She tried to follow him but the sentimonster attacked right then, putting her on the defensive.

"Hey, Glow Stick! Take this!" Chat swiped at Machinator with his baton, aiming for his head, torso, legs, anything in reach. His adversary was always just out of reach. Machinator moved like water; his look of smug superiority grew with every failed attempt to grab him. 

"What's the matter puss, tired? Well I'm not." He made a grab at Chat Noir, that was just barely avoided by Ladybug wrapping her yoyo around his waist and dragging them to safety. No sooner had they rounded a corner when a large energy beam shot past them, and burned a large hole through three buildings across from them. ' _Fuck!_ ' They both thought.

"Haha! Damn, that felt good! That was one powerful mind." They peeked out just in time to see him 'drain' another hostage and discard them. With a clearer idea of what they might be up against, Ladybug felt her blood run cold. They needed to get this man away from people, and quickly. With no time to lose she called on her Lucky Charm and received a miniature of the secret box that the miracle box was hidden in. She quickly formulated a plan and told Chat to get as many civilians away from the area as he could. 

She wasted no time and dashed off on the direction of her home before her transformation could drop. A few alleys away she stopped the transformation, fed Tikki and sprinted the rest of the way. Up in her room she accessed the miracle box and selected the miraculous needed for this mission.

"Marinette, are you sure?" Tikki asked. They'd discussed handing out more miraculouses since Hawkmoth had been getting more powerful lately, but she didn't know it would be so soon. 

"I'm positive Tikki. Besides, I don't think we have much choice. He clearly gets his power from people, we can't get close to him, but with this," she held the miraculous up, "someone else could. And if they could remove his powersource and distract him just long enough we should be able to capture the akuma and amok." 

"Mm, okay. I trust you, Marinette. I hope this works."

"Me too." She took a deep breath, "Ready? Tikki? Spots on!"

+=+=+

Marc had been bunkered down at home with his moms, as they watched the news report of the latest Akuma. There wasn't much information just yet since the crew couldn't get within a certain distance, but they all saw the large hole that it blew through the buildings. They'd been so hyper fixated on the tv that they freaked out when they heard a tap on the window. Cautiously, Mamá approached the window with a metal pipe as Mom and Marc flanked her blind spots, each with their own pipes. 

"Marc Anciel." That-that was Ladybug's voice. He moved closer to the window, his moms shifting to flank him now, looking outside he found Ladybug on their porch looking very anxious. With a nod he signalled Mamá that it was clear. She unlocked the door and welcomed the heroine inside, quickly closing and locking it back after.

"I don't have much time. Marc Anciel, this is the miraculous of the goat, which grants you the power of Ambition. You will use it to help me and Chat Noir, when it is over, you will return the miraculous to me. Will you help us?"

There was really only one answer to that. There were people in trouble, and he _could_ do something about it. When he looked at his moms they simply nodded. He accepted. Ladybug placed the box in his hands, and when he opened it a bright light emitted from the clips in the box and whirled around his head before stopping in front of him. When he opened his eyes, he saw an adorable little goat creature.

"Good day, I'm Ziggy, and I'll be your kwami today. All you have to say is 'Fleece on' to start and 'Fleece off' when you're done. When you need it, say 'Caper' to activate your powerup. That will allow you to go anyway, by any means. Got it?" 

Marc's head was spinning and he wasn't quite sure but Paris didn't have time for him to learn the ropes. "Fleece on, fleece off, and caper." He repeated. When the creature, kwami- Ziggy- nodded he took a fortifying breath and said, "Let's do this. Ziggy! Fleece on!"

+=+=+

Chat had managed to get the civilians off the street and was now playing a game of keep away with the Glow Stick. He'd irritated him by Cataclysming a tentacle, unfortunately, he discovered that the people inside the oversized jellyfish also suffered and the sentimonster could just sprout new tentacles. So now he had three minutes left and was desperately looking for a place to recharge. Luckily for him, his Lady returned right then and she had brought reinforcement with her. The new hero(heroine?) had long grey hair with black streaks, pulled back into a waist length braid. They had a black and white mask, two, small horns attached to their head and wore black lipstick. They wore a grey bodysuit, with black, low heeled boots, black elbow gloves and a hooded cloak. The boots and gloves had gold clasps that attached to the suit. 

"Milady, who's your new friend?"

"I'm Faun. Circumstances withstanding, it's a pleasure to meet you." The new hero(heroine?) replied. 

"Alright boys, here's the plan."

' _Ah, hero then._ '

"Chat Noir and I will distract Machinator, Faun I need you to use your Caper and distract the sentimonster, if you can, try to free as many hostages as possible." Ladybug said. The others nodded in agreement. After Chat recharged they set the plan in motion. 

While Ladybug and Chat Noir were distracting Machinator, Faun pulled his hood up and whispered, "Caper." He felt a tingling sensation all throughout his body, looking down he didn't look any different, but he could _feel_ the power in him. He shelved his fanboying freakout for another day and moved closer to the sentimonster. He didn't see a way in, but Ziggy had said by any route so he took a deep breath and jumped straight up. He was shocked to find that he passed straight through the sentimonster. It didn't appear that his intrusion had been noticed either, so he got to work. The tentacles were most definitely attached to the hostages' spinal cords if what Ladybug told him was accurate. If that were so, then he definitely couldn't just yank them out, not without endangering the hostages at least. 

Looking around for any clues he spotted matted red hair out of the corner of his eyes and froze in shock. There before him was none other than Nathaniel, hooked up at the very centre of the sentimonster, he had tentacles wrapped around each of his limbs and every available space. He wanted to approach him, wanted to grab him, shake him, hug him, but he couldn't. He didn't know the limits to this miraculous, and if he lost the opening offered to him he wouldn't save anyone, least of all Nathaniel. Shelving the myriad of emotions that threatened to overwhelm him, doubled his efforts.

He'd been trying to figure out how to free them -he'd just found out that his crook was actually very sharp, and was trying to figure out how to cut the tentacles without the creature attacking him- when he saw Chat Noir and Ladybug go flying into a building. He heard a high pitched hum and noticed one of the tentacles starting to glow. He had no time to lose it seemed. He extended his staff and, while Machinator was still focused on the others, curved it in three quick, perfect arcs, cutting the majority of the tentacles around him. The sentimonster let out a noise akin to a groan mixed with a howl and went staggered. 

Alerted to his creature's distress, Machinator whipped around and saw the new hero inside his sentimonster. "No! Get out of there you little pest!" He yelled. Faun cut several more tentacles loose and had almost reached Nathaniel, when he was grabbed from behind and dragged out of the sentimonster. It tossed him into a building, screeching all the while. 

"Faun! Are you okay?" Ladybug asked as she blocked the retaliating attacks. 

"Yeah. Come on, let's finish this." 

"Right!" In unison they charged at Machinator, it appeared that he really was weakened without his hostages. Chat caught him in the back of his knees with his baton as Ladybug and Faun distracted the sentimonster. Chat had gotten close to the necklace several times but Machinator kept it just out of reach.

"Enough!" Machinator yelled. He kicked Chat away and they soon heard the sentimonster powering up, the tentacles around Nathaniel constricted and glowed brighter than any of the others before. "If Hawkmoth wants your miraculouses so bad, he can collect them from your corpses!"

They all charged at him, trying to stop him. Faun cut as many tentacles as he could while Ladybug and Chat Noir held off the rest. They were making head way, but not fast enough. He has maybe three minutes left, and he didn't know how much longer it would take for the sentimonster to drain Nath. He didn't want to find out first hand what happened to 'drained' victims. He was starting to get despondent when he heard Ladybug step back and summon her Lucky Charm. It gave her a rope and he had absolutely no idea what she was supposed to do with that, but after a quick glance around apparently she did. She had Chat cataclysm a nearby hydrant while she and Faun held the rope as tought as they could around the sentimonster's legs. Silly as it was, the sentimonster tripped and took Machinator -who had been standing on top of it- down with it. He was buried under the creature which gave Ladybug the chance to grab the necklace and free and purify the akuma and amok. 

With that done she cast the miraculous cure and fixed everything. As soon as she was done Marc grabbed her and dragged her into a nearby alleyway, he gave back the miraculous, thanked her, said goodbye to Ziggy, then rushed back to the scene. There he saw that the paramedics had arrived, along with a literal bus of police officers and agents. He barely paid attention to the officers, just enough to see them apprehend the mad man that must have been behind Nath's abduction. His focus was fully on his boyfriend though. He reached the paramedics just as they were loading him in the ambulance. Apparently Nath's condition was too critical to allow anyone except immediate family to ride with him. The EMT sympathized with him and told him which hospital they were heading to. He thanked her and watched them until they turned the corner. Then he was running faster than he'd ever done in his entire life. He had to get home. He had to let the others know.

+=+=+

The art gang met up the next day outside of Nathaniel's hospital room. Mme. Kurtzberg greeted them there. Marc couldn't help noticing that she looked drawn in,drained and exhausted. She also looked as though she'd been crying all night. When she explained the situation to them she didn't sugar coat it. She said what had been done to her son was horrendous and inhumane, and they needed to be prepared for it if they wanted to see. She didn't go into every nitty-gritty detail, but she didn't hold back. By the end Marc and the others felt sick to their stomachs. 

It was decided that they'd go in two at a time, with Mme. Kurtzberg there as a buffer if needed. She said that, the last two times that Nath had woken up he'd gone into a state of shock and only let out broken whimpers when someone other than his mother approached him. So far he hadn't spoken though. 

In they went, bit by bit. Every group that came out looked more forlorn than when they'd gone in. Alix actually broke down in the hallway after she left Nath's room. When Marc went to comfort she kept muttering, "It's not fair. Why? Why?", over and over again. When she registered his presence she looked at him with such pain and sympathy he didn't know what to do.

Eventually it was his turn. Despite everyone else's reaction he was determined to have an 'okay' visit at least. Nath had suffered enough. His bravado almost faltered when he saw him in the hospital bed. He was so pale, that he almost blended with the sheets. He was awake but his eyes were so-so dull and lifeless, as if he'd never escaped the Machinator's sentimonster. 

"Nath." He called hesitantly, but got no reaction. "Nathaniel?" He said again. Nothing. That was fine. Nath didn't need to talk, he needed rest. Marc could probably fill the silence if he needed to. He-he'd talk about the things they could do to liven up Nath's stay here. Yeah! He was just about to start talking about some games he could bring, or if Nath wanted him to bring anything in particular, when Nath blinked and turned away from the window to face him. Marc froze as those dull, turquoise eyes were leveled at him. He watched and waited for a glint of recognition to pass over them. He smiled, a broken painful thing, when several minutes passed and Nath showed no signs of recognizing him. He was determined to make this an okay visit. So he talked, he mentioned everything he could think of while skirting artfully around the more sensitive topics. It was a fine wire to walk, but for his Angel he'd do it. At one point he'd ended up singing for him. Nathaniel used to love when he did that, so he cycled through all of their favorites and some newer ones he thought Nathaniel might like.

His visiting time came to a close after a while. "I'll try to come see you tomorrow ok?" He said as he gathered his things. It hadn't been the most productive visit, but it _was_ just the first, and he _had_ had Nathaniel's attention the entire time. Marc decided to focus on that. If he focused on anything else right now he'd break down, and Nath _did not_ need that right now. He waved one last time when he reached the door; just as he was stepping out he heard Nath say, "Bye bye, Rainbow." He froze and looked back to see Nath watching him, his eyes were unchanged or- no, there was something there maybe. 

He left the hospital no lighter than he'd entered but there was something building in his chest. A feeling, like a hole he'd long gotten used to finally closing. Whatever happened, he'd be there to support his Angel, no matter what.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you liked it, why not check out the NathMarc Discord. A lovely found family/bundle of chaos. https://discord.gg/FRDXRe4WxR
> 
> I've never written akumas or fight scenes because I don't feel like I can properly capture the essence of it, lemme know what you think about this one.  
> Any questions, just ask. 
> 
> See you in the next story, darlings💖


End file.
